log on now. >> tomorrow, will arnett joins us, star of a new show on fox and glenn beck, star of his show on fox. >> and jane from "30 rock." have a fabulous monday, everyone. see you tomorrow. bill: one pepet there? kidding. good morning, everybody, thousands forced from their homes as a wildfire rages in the west, heightened security in the east, a lot to talk about on this monday. i'm bill hemmer. martha: good morning, ibm, i'm doing well, good to see you this monday, hi everybody, i'm martha maccallum. black hawk helicopters called in as flames hit salt lake city. >> we had fires out here but not this close. >> it was scary, getting close. martha: live report on that. bill: a surprise winner for 2012, how about indiana's mike pence winning that vote? what was his message? he's here in a moment to tell us exactly what he said.

martha: new york is under tight security this morning as presidents and prime ministers and controversial leaders from around the world gather in the big apple to start off the united nations summit. iran is also there, always good for a shoeubging statement or two. we have that live this morning. bill: first, though, president obama, the first time we go into church over the weekend, publicly for the first time in months, spwaoug the st. john's episcopal church, about a block away from the white house. sam young is on the hill. what is the white house saying about this? >> saying look, this really is not that unusual for a president who's very spiritual, he just tends to not want to disrupt services. of course, santa john's, across the park from the white house, is famous for hosting presidents. bill: how often has he chose tone attend public worship since being in the white house some 20 months ago? >> if i'm not mistaken this

is the only sixth time he's done it since taking office which is quite frankly a better track record than i've had in the past year, but certainly the white house says this is not a reflicks of the president's spirituality, he consults with a group of spiritual advisers and he's a fan of the chapel at camp david. bill: many presidents have declared a church while in office. has he or his family done that 1234. >> he hasn't, and to be truthful it has caused him a great deal of problems. in fact i'm sure you've seen recent polling showing almost one in five americans think this president is a muslim. making they're forgetng the controversy over his former pastor, jeremiah wright, but clearly this should help, if he goes more, this should help maybe turn the tide in that polling a little bit. bill: sam young, thank you. he works for the hill, he's live on capitol hill with us now. thank you sam. three minutes past. martha. martha: well, time for texas tea, perhaps? tea party supporters,

filling the fort worth convention center, rallying enthusiasm after a string of successful challenges to establishment candidates that we have seen all across this country. the message of this rally, the lone star state will play a key role in changing the direction of the federal government, according to them. >> texas is going to be a center of the conservative resurgencey, to move the country back to the right, and reduce the size of government and cut spending in washington, d.c. martha: the keynote speaker at the e, conservative columnist and pundit ann coulter. we're going to hear from joe barton, whom we saw there. bill: tea party-backed candidate christine o'donnell is now responding to controversial comments from her past, real time host bill maher releasing video from his show in 1999 on hbo that shows a younger o'donnell who says she, create, dabbled in witchcraft, a senate inform knee responding to that comment sunday afternoon. >> that witchcraft comment

on bill maher, i was in high school! how many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school? but no, there's been no witchcraft since. if there was, karl rove would be a supporter now. bill: that was from sunday afternoon, and a moment from now we'll dig into the deeper controversy, fair and balanced on that in a matter of moments. you can get all these political developments headed into this heated midterm, right at your finger peups, download the america headquarters iphone app on our website, fox news.com or pick it up at the app store next time you're online or hey, right now. martha. martha: a wildfire tearing through utah, forcing thousands of people from their homes at this hour. the fire moving in on a small community of harriman, 30 miles outside of salt lake city, fire crews say 1400 homes have been evacuated in that area. at least 100 more homes --

look at these pictures -- are threatened at this hour. two houses have already burned to the ground and we have seen incredible photos overnight. one man, on a roof, just watching all of this unfold. the fire was sparked at a firing range during a training session for the national guard. fear and anxiety from the folks living nearby: >> yeah, we've been holed up all afternoon watching it from the porch when it was on the other side of the mountain and it came down the mountain. >> i could hardly run to the car, i was so scared, so shaken. i felt like i was going to pass out. martha: fire crews are pour going this area to help. strong winds are feeding the flames, making that job very difficult. ben winslow has more from herriman, utah. >> good morning. the machine gunfire continues to grow, it has destroyed four homes and torched more than 3500 acres and right now state of emergency has been declared for the south end of the salt lake valley, this fire,

again, four homes destroyed, and fire crews working madly right now to build a fire line to save other homes. 1500 homes have been evacuated, a number of people spent the night at a local high school. the cause of this fire, the utah national guard was conducting training exercises on a machine gun training range. they confirmed this morning that live ammunition during a training exercise is what sparked the fire. they have their own fire crews that they thought had it under control. but then we had strong winds, 50-mile an hour winds, that pushed this fire to the point where it was out of control, mass evacuations, still underway here in herriman, and four homes, destroyed. crews are working hard right now to get a handle on this. we understand air attack crew will be beginning when the sun comes up but we are understand thank so far there is zero percent containment on that. that's the latest from herriman.

back to you. martha: thanks, c -- kcu there and our hearts go out to the four family who lost their homes and our hope is they get this under control. bill: and in the meantime, police in north carolina investigating the death of one of their own. the police chief's daughter, 23-year-old valerie hamilton, vanished on wednesday. her body was found sunday. and now police are on the hunt for a registered sex offender. jonathan serrie is on the story live in the southeast bureau, atlanta, georgia. good morning. >> reporter: good morning to you bill. the concord police chief is now taking his appeal nationwide, trying to get any information that will lead to the killer of his 23-year-old daughter. valerie hamilton went missing early wednesday monday. she was last seen leaving the comet street tavern, a restaurant and bar in the charlotte area, she was seen on surveillance video at this establishment leaving with a man. based on that and other

information, police went searching for this woman and found her body saturday night in a storage unit in southeast charlotte. charlotte mecklenberg police are looking for a 34-year-old sex offender with a long rap sheet, michael neil harvey. at this point, they're not formally calling him a suspect, but a person of interest. they really want to talk to him. he's originally from upstate new york but according to court records he's been in charlotte for approximately six years. bill. bill: jonathan serrie in atlanta, thank you. more on that as we move throughout the morning, it's a developing story. jonathan, thanks. nine minutes past the hour now. martha. martha: here's a story for you on this monday, a massachusetts woman wanted to catch a gator, it was a big goal of her -- hers, to bag a 13-foot half ton beast ten times her size. look how little she is. she'll tell us how she tackled and tagged that

greater. the catch of a life time. that's a lot of shoes. bill: no incumbent seems safe were las -- regardless of party. former government bill clinton on why america needs to listen to the father movement. martha: he was up against the likes of mitt romney, newt gingrich and mike huckabee but it was congressman mike pence who topped the presidential straw poll at the value voters summit. >> a recession is when your neighbor loses his job. a depression is when you lose your job. and a recovery is when nancy pelosi loses her job. [cheering] martha: what was his message? we're going to find out when the congressman joins us. that is next, folks. stick around.

martha: pope benedict xvi is wrapping up his historic visit to the u.k. with on

outdoor mass in burr mingham's coffton park. british cardinal john henry newman putting the cardinal on the path to sainthood, the vat cab and commentators are hailing the visit as a success despite the protests along the way. on the trip the pope condemned sexual abuse by priests and met with some of their victims. he made an effort to ease tensions between catholics and anglicans. bill: -- >> have house republicans really learned their lesson? you know what i say? after a year that saw every single house republican vote against that phony stimulus bill, every single house republican vote against their budget busting budget and every single house republican vote against their government takeover of health care, i'm here to say house republicans are back in the fight and they're

back in the fight for conservative values on capitol hill. bill: that was some powerful words from the rising conservative star out of indiana, congressman mike pence, at the values voters conference in washington. in that organization straw poll the indiana republican came out number one, he was the winner. congressman pence is chairman of the house and he is live from michigan wheresy doing campaigning today. thank you for your time. why did you pin that poll, what was your message that 35e8d so -- appealed so well? >> let me say to the folks in the values voters summit how valued and hum bled my wife and i were for the vote of affirmation but can liddy i think it was less about the messenger and the message. what we said to folks there and what we're saying here in michigan today, and that is that we need to get our national government, starting with the congress this fall, back to the common sense and common

values of the american people, without apology. and you know, we really do believe that people are tired of the runaway federal spending, the borrowing, the bailouts and takeovers but they also want to see us get back to respect for the sanctity of life, the sanctity of marriage and more than anything else, that message resonated and that's what people experienced on the weekend. bill: we don't hear a lot about it. you go back 2 1/2 years and the social values issues are not something that is making headlines. what is making headlines is the economy. and jobs. that's what the polls shows is people are after. >> well, bill, i think there's a good reason for that, and that's because the economic polices of this administration have failed. we're pushing the third year in a row of more than a trillion dollars decifit and the american people are focused where they ought to be focused. they're looking for men and women across this country and these congressional elections that are willing to go to washington, d.c., put our fiscal house in

order and get this con ph moving again, and while, you know, we were hum bled and encouraged by the events of this last weekend, my focus is completely on november 2nd, and it's where i think americans are concerned about the course and direction of our national government ought to be focused. bill: let me show our viewers how the polling ended up. you were number one, followed by mike huckabee, number two, mitt romney was third, newt gingrich was fourth and saia palin was fifth at 7 percent. bill clinton made a comment over the weekend, he talked about the tea party movement, talked about a general revolt against bigness. it is so simple, it's probably dead on as well, but you're also seeing these intraparty battles, whether it's some on the right going after christine o'donnell in delaware, whether or not lisa murkowski jumping in on that senate battle in alaska against joe miller. from this chaos, what sort of clarity do you expect to emerge? >> well, i think there's a

great deal of clarity emerging. you know, senator murkowski's decision to run as the third party candidate kind of reminds me of the play last night in the colts game where the player for the giants threw his helmet into the stand t didn't affect the outcome of the game. i don't think her candidacy is going to affect the outcome in alaska. i think joe miller will be elected. look, the american people are coming together, whether it's in florida, with marco rubio, whether it's in nevada, around sharron angle, joe miller, delaware with christine o'donnell. the american people are coming together around men and women of occur on this who -- courage who are committed to putting the fiscal house together on the basis of time honored values and among those values are the respect for traditional values that make this country great, that make communities work like grand rapids, michigan and indianpolis, indiana, and bi, i'll tell you in response to the other question, i don't see the tea party that is i've

attended, the town hall meetings i've attended, you know, i don't see a separation of it. what i see is every day americans, who embrace the things that make this country great, which is our commitment to limited government, and our respect for traditional values and a strong defense. all coming together, and those are the folks that i think are going to win the day on november 2nd. bill: 40 plus days and counting. mike pence, thank you for your time today. i mentioned grand rapids, michigan dark the winner from this past weekend, sir, thank you, we'll talk again down the road. >> you bet. martha: interesting stuff. and speaking of fiscal conservatism, financial problems at pension funds all across this country are reaching crisis levels. but of course, nobody wants to give up their money to make that system whole. this is a very big problem. we're going to show you how you may have a bite taken out of your nest egg and what can you done about it. bill: how about a bright idea? one of history's brightest ever headed for the scrap heap? why lawmakers are trying to

bring light bulbs like this one back from the dead, in order to save american jobs. martha: save the light bulbs!

martha: this is an amazing story, folks. listen to this. general electric is shutting down their last factory in the united states that makes the regular old incandescent light bulb, it's a factory in virginia closing three years after the fed starts moving to phase out light bulbs, ordering government buildings to use fluorescent bulbs to save energy. my next guest thinks that the plan backfired and

people are going to lose their jobs from this factory. it's congressman joe barton. this caught our eye. it encapsulate as number of issues out there right now. why are you fighting to save the indan des -- incandescent light bulb? >> they're cheaper, environmentally correct and we think consumers ought to make the correct choice, especially middle and low income americans, they can't afford four, $5 light bulbs when you can get the old fashioned light bulb for 40, 50 cents a pop. martha: but part of the action is to say that the government won't purchase incandescent light bulbs nip. it doesn't mean the rest of us can't. >> it also says it can't be sold as retail in the united states. martha: they can't be sold anywhere after -- when is this going to go into effect? >> 2014. so we want to repeal it. this is indicative of the overreach that the obama administration, mrs. pelosi and majority leader reid

have put on the american people, they're mandating our behavior in health care, they're mandating in this case in energy, they don't want the american people to have choice, and they don't -- they basically don't trust the public. they want to tell the country what's best for them to do and people like myself and martha blackburn, michael burgess, the house republican leadership, we think it's wrong. martha: you're saying they're not environmentally better. >> no. the cfl bulb has got mercury in it, and epa has put out regulations that if you break a light bulb, you have this very complicated -- you've got to put gloves on, you almost have to call a hazard materials team out to your house have you a broken light bulb. martha: the epa recommends if you break a lit bulb in your house, clear the room for 15 minutes, right? >> try that with a toddler. martha: but has it ever been a situation where one of these bulbs broke and somebody was harmed but it

-- by it? >> the answer is there probably has been. i don't have a specific instance of that. but i'm sure, if that's the only thing you can buy, you'll begin to see people showing nup emergency rooms with mercury poisoning. martha: good grief. it does seem like an infringement on your right to buy whatever kind of light bulb you want, not to mention that most people look better in the incandescent light, as we get older, right? the other light is not very flattering! >> we want more personal freedom, more choice, let the markets work, not opposed to cfl bulbs, obviously, theoretically they save energy, but they cost more, are hazardous to use and we think people should make the choice, not have the government tell people what to do. martha: we'll see people stocking up on the old ge, or lots of people made them, the soft light bulbs, and keep them in storage for 2014. mr. barton, thank you very much. >> we're glad to be in new

york. you can't take the texas out of me, but i'm glad to be in new york! martha: hope you enjoy it. >> thank you. bill: 26 minutes past the hour. a comment about witchcraft, following delaware's senate nominee christine o'donnell, how she explain it is and how sarah palin is getting involved. martha: and get a load of this, folks. it's a half ton alligator. look at how little that woman is. she nabbed that alligator. >> he was enormous! martha: she joins us live in "america's newsroom". we're going to ask her how she did that.

bill: it is 9:30 in new york on a monday. we're awaiting a news conference out of herriman, utah, a fast moving wildfire forcing hundreds of folks out of their homes, firefighters saving two homes so far that have burned -- they've saved several homes so far but two have burned to the ground. the man contradicted for the lockerbie bomber is well enough to get out of bed, he lost his daughter. scotland released megrahi after he was sick with prostate cancer. in the mine site, 30 workers remain trapped, 48 days and counting. the government is doing within its power to rescue

them, and a rescue could come by christmastime. thirty-three total. in the meantime, the u.n. millennium summit is underway in new york ahead of the general assembly debate later this week. ban ki-moon delivering the opening remark necessary a moment but his comments by the iranian president, mahmoud ahmadinejad already causing a stir. david lee miller is live at the u.n. now. what is ahmadinejad saying, david lee? >> reporter: as usual, bill, he is creating a great deal of controversy. he's only been in the united states now about 48 hours, but he is front page news. this is his seventh visit to the united nations. he's going to be taking part in this millennium development goal summit. but he has spoken already with a reporter, and he said that the united states must now recognize that iran is using his words a big power. he then went on to talk about the n word, by that i mean nuclear power, he says that iran does not want an

atomic bomb. he told the reporter, i'm quote, if we wanted to build a nuclear bomb, we're brave enough to say we want it but we'd never do that, he went on to say that the arsenal of nuclear bombs worldwide has to be destroyed. and the subject of sanctions also came up, bill, the u.n. has passed a number of sanctions to try and get inspectors into iran, he says the sanctions aren't going to accomplish anything, they are in his words futile. bill: that's the topic on iran and we'll be visiting that throughout the week here. what are the goals here with these two summits in new york this week, david lee, what do they hope to get done? >> reporter: well, the millennium development summit is trying to eradicate poverty by the year 2015. the short history here is that in the year 2000, the first summit took place, they have a 15-year timeline to accomplish their goals. some may be met, others might not. one example here is to cut in half the number of people facing extreme poverty.

a quick statistic here, in 1990, 46 percent of the world's population faced extreme population, in 200 five, that figure down to 27 percent. that's one encouraging statistic. others, though, are not nearly as encouraging. bill. bill: david lee miller, thank you. we'll be on that story all week at the united nations. martha: we've got new controversy here bubbling up about delaware republican senate candidate christine o'donnell, real time host bill maher, releasing suddenly this video from his former tv show called politically incorrect. the gop nominee appeared as a guest in the 1990s, that's a pretty long time ago and in it o'donnell said this, quote, i dabbled into witchcraft, i never joined a coughent but i dabbled into witchcraft, she said. i did, i hung around people who were doing these things. christine o'donnell responded to this.

listen to this: >> that witchcraft comment on bill maher,ive in high school! how many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school? but no, there's been no witchcraft since. if there was, karl rove would be a supporter now! >> [laughter] >> martha: already. let's go at it, bob beckel, fox news analyst and contributor, andrea santoras, fox news contributor. bob, did that settle that whole thing for you? >> she does have a striking resemblance to harry potter's girlfriend, but outside of that, look, i think this witchcraft thing, you got to be a little careful with this. she's right by the way to say it was back in high school and i thought that shot at rove was pretty funny, but for the democrats there's a lot of other material to deal with. her tax evasion, using campaign funds for personal use. but above and beyond that, the biggest gift of all for

the democrats in the general, since we have so few anyway is sarah palin. republicans have become the party of sarah palin and this woman is clearly a saia palin accolade and that's the way we got to go at it. martha: let's take a look at what sarah palin said about all this and pull all tweet that she put out there on her twitter account. is says -- it says o'donnell's strategy, time is limited, use it to connect with local voters whom you'll be serving versus national media serving -- seeking your destruction. what does that mean? >> i think that was smart. i think sarah palin is smart and that's what christine o'donnell is trying to do, so she does need to take her message to the people of delaware and i think she should take out ads that says karl rove hates me. i think that would be very effective and i'm glad that bob didn't go after her for the witchcraft comment but frankly i don't want to know who bob hung out with last night, let alone high school! i think the republicans

trashing o'donnell as well doesn't help her. i think that the more they do, it just helps her identify with the people in delaware. and say look, this is a state that largely trusted the polices of democrats, let an insider like me have a shot to get in there, she has plenty of national media attention, she just needs to focus on getting the message out. i can't understand, though, martha, why democrats want to talk about all this other stuff and the national media is going after her, they're trying to destroy they are, trying to distract. i talked about witchcraft and master base, too, if the economic numbers were as bad as they were now. martha: bob, do you want to comment about who were -- who you were with last night? >> i was actually in the hospital last week, and a nice nurse, though, it was a good nursing staff. martha: we're glad you're here, by the way. >> the fact is, there's a lot more material here. look, this woman does not stand a chance to get elected senator in delaware, but i keep coming back to the point now.

we've got three races here, maybe four, where sarah palin has impacted in a helpful way for the democrats. one is in nevada, where hay reid never should have had a shot at that seat and probably will win t. certainly in delaware, and the chances of murkowski running as a candidate gives them a shot in hralz and then in colorado. i think she's becoming a negative for the republicans in a big way. martha: let's bring this up. it's an interesting point. we don't know how that support is going to fare in the general election, and it's done a lot of candidates a lot of good, i think 19 candidates she has backed of the tea party ilk won in their primary races, so that's a officially good showing so far, but the general may be a different story. what about the story this morning, and andrea, i want you to take this on first, that the white house is considering, considering, and now i should point out, right up front, they're saying there's no truth to this story whatsoever, that they're considering like a tea party assault ad from the white house. if there's any truth to it, they said there isn't, good

idea, andrea? >> i think that is politically very, very unwise. you have even former president clinton coming out, talking about how important the tea parties are, you should not underestimate their power, they are not just conservative, they're independents and they're angry, and anger translates into enthusiasm, and it translates to enthusiasm at the polls and that's where democrats really have the decifit. so i wouldn't do that. martha: bob? and we have to go. >> let me skwhr*us say you don't ever stoke a constituency that's angry and these people are angry and i would leave them alone. let's remember, sarah palin endorsements were from the far right and now you've got to enter into a general election with a much broader eelectric toreat. >> i predict she'll back out of there. she's shrewd enough to know where she can hurt and help. martha: and the so-called establishments as well, john mccain, carly fiorina, she backs them, too, so we'll see what happens. bob, you look well, welcome

back. bill: the former president saying get the voter frustration behind the movement but is not clear where the tea party stands on all the issues: >> tea party insurrection, if you will, that you see in these republican primaries, reflects the feeling of a lot of americans that they're getting the shaft. bill: so there is more from that. how is the tea party reacting to his comment? we'll talk to one of the founders of the tea party group and find out next hour. also, what do you think about the impact of the tea party movement? go to "america's newsroom" home page, foxnews.com/ "america's newsroom", and tell us who you think benefits more from the tea party. democrats or republicans? maybe we should have a category for neither. but those are the two options in our 2-party system. check it out. martha: beckel thinks we are

arguing that the democrats benefit from it and benefit from sarah paulin endorsing these an candidates. we'll see what everybody says at home about that hot topic, and how about this, a hot topic as this gets unfolded, the pension crisis may be worse than we thought, folks. the bad bets by some of america's biggest pension funds that could make unexpected shortfalls look even worse. bill: also, there are tens of thousands without power this morning. a pourful hurricane, igor, still on the move. where that monster storm is headed next.

martha: here is a really gross story, folks, bed bugs are invading the big apple and the critters aren't just targeting hotel rooms and public buildings. nike has temporarily closed their flagship new york store after finding being bug necessary it. how about that!

the store has been turning around tourists who often flock to this massive store. nike says they're taking the necessary steps to fix the problem and expect to reopen soon but niketown is not alone, bed bath & beyond was recently affected, hollister, a movie theater and the empire state building. bill! bill: i mean, in this economy? cutting back on the shopping what's every 15-year-old kid going to do in this town? >> go to nike, go to the movie theater. bill: so how much are you counting on your pension for retirement, folks? new warning over looming pension problems that has several states looking to cut back their expectations for returns on the investment. look at some of these states: california, texas, new york. also oregon and colorado. but texas, california and new york, they're as big as we get in this country. will the tax force be forced

to bail them out? good morning to you, steve. what are we going to do in this mess? >> probably bail them out. i hate to say that, bill. but what do we do any time we get into financial distress with banks or insurance companies or auto companies? we bail them out. and my prediction, bill, is that the peng funds, especially state and local pension funds, is going to be the next big federal bailout. bill: so you think taxpayers are going to be on the hook for this? >> i do. bill: for what was negotiated years ago and guaranteed a return of 8 percent? it's good money if you can get it, right? >> let's clarify this, bill. we're talking about two different types of pensions. there's the private pension and those are guaranteed by something called the pension benefit guarantee corporation. that's one. the pension company -- the companies pay premiums into that program. but the other big pension bomb is state and local governments. you mentioned california, you mentioned new york.

my home state of illinois has a massive pension problem. it's estimated that about $500 billion of underpayments have been made into those state and local pension programs, and by the way, those pensions pay out, you know -- you've done stories on this show, two or three times what private workers are getting and it still looks like it's headed to me towards a bailout. bill: on the outside it sounds like a little madoff, you're moving the shell game around and you're changing this for that and the other. here in new york, they've come up with a plan, they'll reduce their annual return by half a percent. now, what's that going to do? >> well, it's going to help a teeny tiny shop but not much at all. listen, the problem is we have to convert to a system 401(k) plans, we have to move away from what are called defined program programs to defined contribution plans. that's what the private sector is doing very aggressively. when you talk about the pensions that are going bankrupt, you're right,

bill, those are pensions that were made 20 or 30 years ago, but the good news is that most private companies are moving towards private defined contribution plans. the problem is, the public sector is not, and that's where the real time bomb is. bill: this was fine during the 1990s and everybody was running like a bull. but the last decade, things have changed. you were about to say something. go ahead. >> first of all on your point, you're exactly right y. are the private and public pensions going bankrupt? because of the stock market collapse. they were thinking they would get 8 percent, 9 percent, 10 percent in returns and we've lost 25 percent in the stock market. but i wanted to give a salute to the governor of new jersey, chris christie, who as you know, bill, has been one of the heroic governors saying look, we've got to take this issue on or we're not going to have money left for schools, parks, highways, anything, all of our tax dollars are going to go to pay pensions. so that's one governor who's finally taking this on. i don't know if schwarzenegger is doing it in california.

bill: all 49 governors are going to watch and see whether or not chris christie is successful in new jersey. he's good to -- about to go on a month-long tour across the country. we'll see how that goes. >> amen to that guy. bill: go to foxnews.com/ "america's newsroom" and click on the bya box. shoot me on e-mail, hemmer, fox news.com or follow me on twitter, bya, because you asked. some great questions, especially about the economy these days. we got to a few of them last week and hope to get to a couple more. martha: he is thinking hard on that question. he's anger. the young guns of the gop is what they're called. talking about a possible standoff with democratic spending. how paul ryan says he plans to literally choke the new health care law. bill: also forget about old crocodile dunde: this woman takes the cake. that's 17 feet long,

1025 pounds. look at that thing.

martha: an out of work massachusetts woman certainly had her work cut out for her during a recent trip to south carolina. bill: she found a job, didn't she? mary ellen christian captured and killed a 1000-pound alligator, hooking the gator and fighting for at least two hours before taking it down. martha: look at that thing! look at its hands! mary ellen joins us now.

good to have you here. this guy is huge, and you are not that big a woman! how did you do this? >> well, i had some help, martha. we were on a boat, and we went out of black's camp and we had spinning rods set up with heavy line and snatch hooks cast out to the animal and the initial contact was that snatch hook. once we had a couple of hooks in him, we were able to get a har poon in him and get him to the boat. it wasn't that easy. martha: so some have been watching football, hanging out on the weekends. that's what i did! you're a hunter. i mean, you brought in bobcats and what else? this is one of your biggest trophies, right? >> yes. yep, i saw the -- i got a moose but he wasn't that big. we went down to south carolina to hunt alligator. i had a permit, and my husband and i went down and we stayed at black's camp, and we had a guide out of

black's camp he brought us out and that's what we went there to do. bill: he was a pretty good guide, huh? you were only there a couple of minutes when you spotted this thing. >> we saw him in the water, so we were lucky, we got out there, in three minutes we saw a nice gator that we wanted. bill: you married 17 years ago, might, mary ellen? how did you spend your honeymoon back then? >> we went to louisiana on an alligator hunt! bill: how did you fare there? >> we did all right. it was a little different experience there. maybe we were catching some 100-pound alligators but nothing like this. bill: you caught your husband, you've been hanging on to him for 17 years, too. by wait, what does this beast look like? >> he's enormous. it's the biggest thing -- i think a lot of people have seen. i brought it over to

taxidermy, and they thought he was 900 pounds, but when he was on the scale, he was 1025. his head is very big. martha: that's what i was going to say, his neck looks like a linebacker alligator. he is unbelievably huge. what are you going to -- where are you going on to put this? i heard you took it to the taxidermist. where are you going to put it in the home? >> we are a high ceiling he he -- so he will go up on a big wall. we had the meat processed so we'll eat the alligator meat and his body, around his belly, it was 79 inches. he is very big. martha: all right. well, that was -- you know, he went out for swim that morning and is going to end up on a big wall at your house. mary ellen, thank you for telling this story. those pictures are extraordinary. what an animal. look how big around is his

neck! bill: they weren't in the water but a couple of minutes and she comes home with this! we are taking on the tea party here, the white house, apparently with an offensive against that group. is that true, is that a good idea, or a bad idea? and guess on that, martha. martha: an interesting development in this mosque story. a new group says that they may be able to stop construction of the proposed mosque near ground zero and all they have to do to do it is nothing. ♪

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♪ and i do they've done a great job caring for their teeth. that's why i recommend a rinse like crest pro health complete. it's a more comple way to a better dental check-up. giving you a clean, healthy mouth. new crest pro health complete rinse. everyday i eat your soups, i save a lot of money. that's great. so, your rich and hearty soups have made me, rich and hearty. that's funny. i'm hearty because of your juicy steak, your potatoes... you're really, rich and happy. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. martha: there's a new strategy apparently for republicans looking to take down president obama's agenda. starve it is what they wants to do, bleed the programs dry before getting enacted, withholding funds for the

president's policies and first and foremost, the overhaul of health care and they cannot cut the cash flow yet. that is how we start a brand new hour of "america's newsroom," hello, everybody, glad to have you here. bill: good to see you, how are you doing, martha, good weekend. martha: very good weekend. bill: back at it. i'm bill hemmer, trying to chip away at the white house policies contingent on republicans winning back a majority in congress and they'll admit they may not be able to accomplish all their goals, chris stirewalt joins us, fox news digital politics editor. chris, good morning to you, good to see you. it's not a big surprise but maybe we are hearing about this as a concerted effort to puts off the funding for the major policies -- cut off the funding for major policies, starting with health care. will it work. >> it has two purposes, for the first purpose is to convince voters that republicans have a plan and an agenda going forward. because, let's face it, no matter how successful republicans are this fall they will not be in a position to repeal the biggest parts of the obama agenda, specifically the

president's national health care plan. so, what they are saying is, hey, voters we have a may to actually corral this and rein it in for two years, until we have another chance to come back and make our case to you and we'll be in a position to change it. on that front, that is an open question, because, now, republicans are trying to roll out a whole policy agenda they can basically say this is what we stand for and we're not just the party of no and we have some agenda items and whether it actually works in reality, will depend on how successful republicans are this fall, if they get big numbers, they can cut off funding to key parts of the program, that -- to basically stall implementation. martha: the biggest power the congress has of course this is power of the purse and if they have a majority they'll use na. nancy pelosi, a number of democrats and fellow democrats in states like texas and carolinas and ohio, saying that basically they don't know if they'd support her for speaker if they maintain the majority? >> well, one of the interesting things, about this year, is the

degree to which it has become a national election and a referendum on president obama and his party's policies an speaker pelosi is in many ways the billboard for this and stands out for what ended up being a liberal house caucus, advanced a lot of legislation that is controversial. for these guys and gals, especially in swing districts, southern states, border states, they haven't voted for all of these key agenda parts but have one vote republicans can really use against them and that was their vote at the beginning, for nancy pelosi, to be speaker and that is what they are using against them and interestingly a lot of democrats are making and running from it and saying maybe they will not support her if democrats hold onto the majority and that is a real thing, i think if democrats manage to hold on to a majority, nancy pelosi may not hold onto the speakership. martha: a scramble going on and it will be interesting to watch. folks running away from a lot of the things they voted for in order to get re-elected and i

want to ask you about this. interesting democratic here, if former president clinton coming on the talk shows and sunday and, basically, saying take the whole tea party thing very seriously, folks or avoid it at your own peril and then the opposite story, the white house may be considering an ad campaign that alliance this tea party directly with the g.o.p. and goes after it and they are saying that that is not true, they are the not planning that. your thoughts? >> what they are saying is the white house is not planning it but that doesn't mean and certainly what we are hearing at the power play will -- what we're hearing from democrats on the hill is, that the democratic party controlled by the obama political machine definitely is thinking about hitting hard against the tea party. that is very concerning for endangered democrats. because what that means is, that instead of being able to co-opt the tea party message and say, hey, we get it and we're frustrated with washington, too and are concerned about out of control spending, we want to lower taxes, they find themselves at odds with what is

-- has basically been the most dynamic political movement of the past decade and that is a tough spot for democrats, right now. because they are sort of at odds with the president's political team. martha: which way will they go, bill clinton hayes histos a his tapping into the pulse of the american people fairly well, at different points in his career, we'll see who gets listened to, chris, great to see you, sir, thank you very much. bill: and a reminder, all your political elements are at your fingertips, download the iphone app at foxnews.com and, picket up at the app store and go to foxnews.com/"america's newsroom" and take our poll on-line now. who benefits more from the tea party, that is what we're asking today. democrats or republicans? vote now on-line at foxnews.com. martha: interesting questions, we would love to hear from you and there's a new report that says although the number of people killed in car crashes due to distracted drivers has actually declined, the problem is still really an epidemic,

according to the transportation department, in 2009, nearly 5500 deaths were reported as distraction 9-and we're talking about cell phones an texting and that kind of thing here. that is a lot but is down 6% from '08, which is good news, a step in the right direction and these crashes accounted for 16% of all traffic fatalities in 2009. get off the phone! don't text when you drive. it is bad news, folks. everybody needs -- >> stay focused stay alive. five minutes past the hour, new opposition to the proposed mosque near ground zero, construction -- a construction worker created a new web site called the hard hat pledge, the mission to get others in the building trades to vow not to work on the project at its current location, and it is gangs momentum and eric sean is on the story live in our newsroom in new york. what is the movement trying to accomplish? don't build, don't do it. eric: you know, bill, the so-called ground zero mosque, if it gets off the ground it needs

heart hats to build it but as you said there is a call not to build it and, they are trying to boycott to build the planned islamic center, near ground zero and the web site sends a message to officials, called "911 hard hat pledge and the web site calls ground zero an american battlefield and says, while rth imam has the right to build it near ground zero, he believes it is anyone appropriate. >> the construction workers were the true first responders and granted, god bless our firemen and cops, those guys came in as we were running out. but, we have special ties to the project. eric: and, we've asked for a comment by the project backers, cordoba initiative and so far, have no word on their reaction to the attempt for a boycott.

bill: what are you hearing from the other hard hats. eric: we talked to a bunch of hard hats near ground zero, bill and more construction workers we talked to would also refuse to build it than those who would be willing to, but the reaction is mixed and some said a job is a job. >> no, i would not want to work on the mosque. because i don't want to deal with those people, they -- what they did to us. >> yes. i would. yes, i would. now, now those people that don't want to work if they want their children to starve, they starve. >> i have to honor whatever the request from my business is but my personal opinion is, no. eric: we met iron worker jim bruschi who was sitting in a park between the project site and ground zero and he said he was part of the 9/11 cleanup and as a result, got cancer of the vocal chords. >> i have cancer. and 9/11... eric: you worked on the world trade center. >> yes. pulled out bodies, i was there,

for a while. and now i have cancer. no, i don't want to work there. eric: meanwhile, muslim groups from across the country took part in the summit in queens, new york over the weekend and the purpose for them is to try and figure out a way to deal with the controversy surrounding the proposed center and leaders are set to release their recommendations at a news conference later today and we'll fill you in when we get that. bill: thanks, air reric sean in york. martha: new information on the economy, and it looks at the housing crisis, the national association of homebuilders, say the housing market index is unchanged from last month, and the index includes several housing indicators, and cheryl casone is live in new york city with a look at this and it is still at a very low spot and has been for quite some time, right. >> reporter: you're right. the range of the index is 0 to 100 and we are sitting at 13. here's this thing, the market, i've been watching the numbers the last 8 minutes since the number began to cross on the wires and i tell you what, we

are seeing buying in the stock market. this is the only economic data we had today to react, to and we're also getting good news from lennar, fiscal third quarter numbers, for lennar, one of the biggest homebuilders in this country, one of the members of nahb saying they posted the first profit since 2007, martha and even though the number is unchanged and it is really low as you mentioned from the zero to 100 range, still the market seems to like the number. martha: we'll take what they like, right, cheryl? good to talk to you this morning. it's interesting lennar is picking up, maybe they tightened their business, so completely they are starting to see a little bit of growth often the bottom. something to watch. thank you, cheryl cass sewn from -- >> the housing market has to come back, before the economy gets steam rolling, iran's defiant leader bringing his brash brand of politics to the big apple. what he said this time to tweak the international community.

martha: and former president bill clinton taking aim at the tea party. why it's all about, quote, bigness, in president clinton's opinion, and a response to the bigness argument. bill: and the category one hurricane, hurricane igor, don't tell the folks in bermuda, who took a beating from him, we're live in the a matter of minutes. ♪ ♪ oh, stormy ♪ oh, stormy... are you receiving a payout from a legal settlement or annuity over 10 or even 20 years? call imperial structured settlements. the experts at imperial can convert

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bill: breaking news out of salt lake city, utah, the harriman fire, new tape at day break and that is a burner and, the town of harriman outside of salt lake city, new numbers to digest. . four homes confirmed burned to the ground and flames, however,

significantly suppressed today and the weather is cooperating, all very good news, however, 1400 homes have been evacuated in the line of fire, at the moment 100 homes are threatened and that is the view now from outside of salt lake, harriman utah, breaking news and a developing story in "america's newsroom." martha: well, there is bait of a buzz around new york city this morning as world leaders arrive here, to attend the u.n. generally assembly meeting going on all this week and as always, we can look to the man you see in this picture, in the middle there, as iran's president mahmoud ahmadinejad of course, and he already is starting to create fireworks in all of this. yesterday, he spoke to the associated press, and called the rounds of u.n. sanctions over iran's controversial nuclear program, quote, pathetic, and, ineffective, and, then he added, quote, the future belongs to iran. john bolton is here, the former u.s. ambassador to the united nations and a fox news

contributor and you will be having a very busy week. good have you here. what do you think of mahmoud ahmadinejad's calling it pa thekts a thekt and ineffective -- pathetic and ineffective. >> this is part of his charm offensive. martha: very charming, isn't it. >> thus as it goes mind yeah center of the world to make iran's case to talk to groups and address the u.n. and i think this was well planned out and is trying to show sanctions are having no impact on their nuclear program. martha: what about the fact that hillary clinton said these sanctions are biting sanctions and she does believe they are having a negative impact on the iranian economy. >> i don't think the evidence supports that. i think clearly they are having marginal impact in some places, but plenty of countries, china, russia, turkey, our nato ally said they would supply and refine petroleum products and continue to finance iran's international activities and in terms of stopping the nuclear weapons program the sanctions are having no effect.

>> that is what it's all about. >> the administration now says, the sanctions are not to stop the nuclear program but to get iran back to the negotiating table and, so far they haven't accomplished that. martha: it buys them a lot of time, doesn't night time is usually on the side of the proliferator in a nuclear proliferation context and that is what iran wants and that is what it has. martha: let me ask you about the sarah shourd and the hikers because it has gotten a lot of attention and she came out and said we are not spies. he said, mahmoud ahmadinejad is saying, wasn't it great of us to let her go, an act of compassion on our part but we have 8 iranian dissidents, that we would like to have released now in return for her release. should we play that game. >> no, these people were clearly not spies, foolish to go near the border, and a real compassionate government would have released them three days after they were picked up and mahmoud ahmadinejad is trying to play the game of moral

equivalents and people under arrest in this country are by and large arrested for violating sanctions and didn't innocently cross the canadian border i think is again part of the charm offensive and is trying to get those people out in exchange for sarah shourd. martha: what do you think we'll hear from president obama, and last time he talked about the fact that no one nation should dominate another, and, some people read as a very different tone, sorts of and obama doctrine, as opposed to a bush dock stricken, and prior presidents, perhaps. >> this is an environment made for a community organizer, a communities with 192 countries that needs organization and it will be filled with rhetoric but the past 20 months, what is interesting is how little the obama administration has accomplished in the u.n. context and i think he'll talk about his arms control agreement with russia which is in deep trouble, in the senate and other efforts around the world where we have

the millennium development goals summit at the beginning of the week and he'll speak at that as well and i'm sure will talk about this is foreign aid budget. martha: we'll look forward to your coverage and input throughout the week as you witness what is going on there, important meetings under way, thank you ambassador john bolton. >> glad to be here. martha: i bets you are. it will be very interesting, right? lots to write about and lots to think about in the coming days, ambassador, always good to see you. thank you very much. bill: in a moment police say he strangled his wife and soda and energy drinks made him do it. the overcaffeinated defense is in court today, coming up, also... martha: hurricane igor, pounding bermuda overnight, high winds and massive waves slamming into the island, and we'll show you what happened, coming up next. [ female announcer ] does your smooth pass the second day test?

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martha: the father of one of the 1988 pan am bombing victims met with abdelbaset al-megrahi. in a libyan hospital. the victim's father says he believes that mabdelbaset al-megra al-megrahi, the only man convicted of killing 270 people including 189 americans is innocent. abdelbaset al-megrahi was convicted in '03 and released in '09 on, quote, compassionate grounds after doctors concluded at that time, they say he only had three months to live, more than a year later, he is still alive. bill: and from our extreme weather center, igor is pounding the island of bermuda, high winds and furious waves. knocking out power to tens of thousands, plunging people hunkered at home, into darkness, rick leventhal has been there for days, streaming live out of southhampton, bermuda and what does it looks like today based

on what you have been able to see there, rick? >> reporter: well, bill, the sun has come out and we are still getting wind here, but, clearly the worst of igor is over, when we got up this morning, but 6:00 a.m., there were still tropical storm-force winds and a sideways rain and we managed to survey the island and clearly the worst of the storm is the power outages that are widespread, roughly 80% of the island woke up out power, a lot of lines down including one on a main road and soldiers directed traffic around it. we also saw a lot of trees down, and, other property damage like fencing knocked down at the elbow beach hotel. and, down on the beach itself, another big issue here, because the erosion is pretty bad and chewed away several feats of sand up to the beachfront restaurants there and 10 to 15 feet when you get closer to the water, bill. bill: how was it last night? how did you get through the night? how did it feel with regard to the storm? a strong category one?

>> reporter: yes, you know, we got pounded. no question about that. i'm with a veteran crew, producer andrew, who you knew well and the photographer, paul, and these guys we have all been through dozens of storms over the past 20 years and none of us ever remembered a category one that strong. violent, violent waves, gusts certainly topping 90 miles per hour and right on the southern coast and we were getting direct hits from igor, it was a rough night, sounded like freight train, the glass was rattling and we were all wondering how bad it might have been had it kept the category 3-4 strengths, bill. bill: on scene there in bermuda, best to you and your crew, rick, 25 minutes past the hour, says a lot when he talks about a category one being the strongest they have felt. martha: when you watch it from 3 to 2 to 1, you think it is no big deal but it is still a big deal and even tropical storm force winds can be damaging and,

good they didn't get hit harder, in bermuda and bill mentioned that story a while ago. the man is accused of strangling his wife but he claims he couldn't have knowingly killed her, soda, diet pills and one whopper of a legal defense. you cannot make it up. bill: you cannot and she was called to the carpet for a comments she made 11 years ago, saying she dabbled in black magic as a high school senior and today the senate hopeful, christine o'donnell, quiets the witchcraft critics and we'll talk to one of the founding members of the tea party movement about this, in three minutes here. [ male announcer ] if you have type 2 diabetes, you struggle to control your blood sugar. you exercise and eat right, but your blood sugar may still be high, and you need extra help. ask your doctor about onglyza, a once daily medicine used with diet and exercise to control high blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. adding onglyza to your current oral medicine may help reduce after meal blood sugar spikes

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gee. bill: inside america's election headquarters, the president of the u.s. taking on the tea party, bill clinton on cbs saying he understands why the movement has momentum now. >> i think the government didn't... they think the government didn't exercise appropriate oversight and everybody has a job in health insurance and can make their home mortgage payment and send their kids to college and they can't and so there is a general re volt against bigness. bill: a general re volt against bigness and he said a lot of americans feel like they are getting the shaft and dana lash is a co-founder of the tea party movement, welcome back to "america's newsroom."

a general re volt against bigness. does that nail it? >> sort of, bill, thanks for having me back, it sort of does but for bill clinton to pretend that he doesn't know what the tea party movement is about, for him to say it is broadly, a revolt against bigness, sort of absolves the democrats of responsibility for creating the conditions that resulted in the movement in the first place, and, it was big government meddling in the private sector and big government's overregulation that contributed to the catalyst and the reason why the grassroots came to be in the first place, so, it is slick but is not that slick. bill: the other thing he describes is that he thinks americans feel like they are not getting any rebound these economic times which is true also, suggesting that the fat cats have all been paid back and are doing all right. and most of middle america is still starving out there. >> well, yeah, most of middle america is still doing poorly and they'll continue to do

poorly, too, and bill clinton advised the democrat party to pass -- which the health control law which went against the majority, like 76% of americans didn't want the law passed but, he went ahead and advised the democrats to pass it, and if we look at bush tax cuts, not being tended, coming up after the first of the year and look at the penalties and everything else for the health control kicking in, yeah, american families are going to be hit a lot harder but, let's look at the big government policies, that are creating this mess. and, that is what he's not going to take responsibility, but he's going to try to send the tea party movement as being something that is confused and people don't know what they are talking about. bill: colin powell was asked about it, too, and said the tea party taps into an anxiety an anger that exists throughout the country and you touched on that, too, christine o'donnell, she was expected on fox news sunday with chris wallace and cancelled, apparently a videotape popped up from 1999 and she's on bill maher's show on hbo talking about witchcraft

and high school and here's how she reacted to it. on sunday. >> the witchcraft comments on bill maher, i was in high school. how many of you didn't hang out with questionable folks in high school? but, no, it -- there has been no witchcraft since, if there was, karl rove would be a supporter now! [laughter]. bill: that was the latest comments, and, there could be more today, and if and when there is we'll pass it to our viewers, how do you think she's doing on this topic over the past 48 hours? >> i think we ridiculing it she's doing fairly well. you know, what is worse than witchcraft a guy trying to aim for relevancy while wearing a mullet and releasing a tape of a high school girl as a way to tear done the conservative candidate. that is what i think is worse than witchcraft, as long as he ridicules it because it should be ridiculed. if any one of us were to go on things from 14 years ago, none

of us would be fit for office and that includes bill maher and everybody. bill: would you have the -- encourage her to take chris wallace's questions? sit there and answer it and get that on the table. she didn't. >> she should have done the interview with chris wallace and i don't think she should hide from the press and needs to use the media attention to her advantage. and, there is nothing -- she was in high school, for crying out loud and there is ridicule it and don'ts be afraid to talk to reporters. bill: interparty fights are going on now, lisa murkowski against joe miller and the abc news headline, world news, political insights, tea party leaves g.o.p. with a hangover. is that what the effects of the tea party is at the moment? >> i don't think that is -- i don't like how -- it seems as though there's an adversarial position towards the grassroots

movement and we have to look at this in context, the tea party mutual is the majority of america, all the establishment candidates like murkowski and charlie crist trying to hang on to their seats or whatever shred of relevancy they have left are the fringe of the party. this is just cleaning out the g.o.p. and getting it back to its base and if anybody should be upset it should be the grassroots movement, the majority of the people should be upset at the fringe element within the republican party. the fringe are the establishment. bill: when it continues to be divided, in terms of names on a ballot, that can have an impact. are you concerned about that. >> it can. it can have an impact. i'm not concerned, simply because i think we have seen the past, like 7 victories we've had the past couple of weeks with these primaries, conservative candidates are winning, and, if people like lisa murkowski and charlie crist have to run as independent candidates or write

in candidates, to split the vote -- the establishment candidates are splitting the vote. i'm not concerned, because i think in the end the majority of people their voices will prevail, and i'm not really concerned about it. bill: we are asking our viewers a question on-line, who they believe the tea party benefits, whether the democratic party or republican party. can you answer that? >> i think it is actually benefitted both of them. if you have noticed, start with the democrats, look at how democrats are campaigning, if you look at all of the -- ads they've put forth on television, remember when health control was passing it was a big feather in everyone's cap and everybody remembers the image of nancy pelosi with the larger than life gavel, and everyone was marching down through the streets, that was something that the party was really proud of. but, now, if you look at all of these campaign ads, they are not even citing that as a feather in their cap or running on their record, they are -- a race backed to middle. bill: interesting point. and republicans -- >> republicans, a race to --

with republicans to see who can be as conservative who can be as limited government as possible. i think the movement has done what it set out to document and that was to provide a check and balance, not just for the republicans, but, also, for the democrats and get everybody a little bit more focused on what the people want and the majority of the people are limited government individual responsibility and i think for some of these candidates on the left they are starting to notice that and, it is reflecting in their campaign ads. bill: we will continue to ask the question, thanks for coming on today. live from st. louis, dane in loesch, to our viewers, go to "america's newsroom" home page, foxnews.com/"america's newsroom." tell us who you think benefits more. from the tea party movement, democrats or republicans? 1600 votes in one hour. you can still cast your vote for the next 20 minutes, plus... let us know what you think on-line if you wants to weigh in there, dana loesch in the st. louis, 43 days, we live in interesting times, are we not living in interesting times. martha: very interesting times,

i looked at some of our e-mail and one person says, you know, our children are, our grandchildren are the people who benefit most, the feeling of people who support the movement. and they believe it's sparking change and we'll see what happens the next 40-some days and it will be interesting to watch it unfold. so as i said, with less than 45 days, 43 days, right now until the midterms, president obama is hitting the campaign trail, hard, folks, heading to philadelphia and will campaign for senate candidate joe sestak, who is locked in a very interesting race, folks, against republican pat toomey. for a seat considered a must-win for the democratic primary. if you remember all the background on this, arlen specter and the rest and the relationship between sestak and the white house has not always been a smooth one but they'll be chummy, no doubt on the campaign trail, you can recall the white house backed republican turned democrat arlen specter in the primary. at the time, sestak says the administration tried to get him

to drop his challenge by offering him a nice job at the white house and they say that was not so and he said it was, and, that is going to be quite an interesting story to follow. now, how about this. they could be in the most important voting bloc in the midterms, independents, political analyst widely agree they could tip control of congress either way, case in points, washington state's third district where we will hunker done on this, and dan springer is live with more. dan, how are the independents playing out there? >> reporter: well, yeah. independents are crucial, not only out in the west coast but across the country as you said, martha, and let's look at the numbers. exit polling in 2008 show that 29% of voters identify themselves as independents, "gallup poll" just released, just taken this year, shows the number up to 41%, and in the third congressional district in washington state, experts put it at 40%, independents and 30% democrats and 30% republicans, so it really is the ultimate swing district. vacated by a moderate democrat,

brian baird and yet two seasoned politicians going for the race, this time around, so it really will be one of those races to look at as a microcosm for the rest of the country. the unemployment rate in the district is above the national average at 13.3%, so, this race and these, like so many across the country are focused on the economy. martha: dan -- >> they still have bad feelings about the bush administration and republicans in the congress, and so, right now it is less about kind of falling in love with the republicans again and more about being disappointed, maybe very disappointed with the democratic party. >> i've heard pundits say if democrats wants to keep control of congress, they have to win this race because, it is again a microcosm of the nation, martha. martha: an interesting one to watch, dan, so the democrat in this race, how is he shaping his message in light of this. >> denny heck is a seasoned politician, the chief of staff for a popular governor but is not talking about that.

he's talking about his time in the private sector and time creating jobs and is not playing up his ties to the democratic party. in fact there is no mention of that in any of his campaign literature, or on his campaign signs, and his opponents, meanwhile, j. d. herera argues while he may be trying to run to the middle he's really in lock step with the democratic leaders like the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi. >> i'm not running in san francisco, and if my opponents wants to run against nancy pelosi, it is 700 miles to the south. feel welcome. >> reporter: you can see, the race is heating up, he does not wants this to be about the speaker of the house. he wants it to be about his local ties and what he can do locally and she, of course wants to nationalize it and say if you want change in america, this is the way to get it. vote for the republican in the race. martha: the man was born with a perfect name, for a campaign slogan, give 'em heck!

looking at the signs. bill: give 'em heck, what the heck! martha: great name! what the heck! bill: what the heck! hey, try that. the search for 13 people missing, leading police to what appears to be a bizarre cult. >> okay, don't you see me? i'm okay. my son, the dogs, everybody is okay. we eat like you guys drink the same soda that you do and don't do nothing bad and we're okay. bill: so, what happened here, were they brainwashed? should they be charged? should the kids be allowed to go home? in-house psychiatrist is here today after the break on that. martha: and how about this one, he's accused of strangling his wife, he claims it wasn't his fault. his defense is not that he was insane, it is that he was on caffeine. bill: hob that. pa paefpaef

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hundreds outs of their homes. a terror arrest overseas has american authorities worried. and might your taxes go up if the democrats don't extend the bush tax cuts? answers ahead. >> plus, a new study on a very popular joint medication, millions of americans have taken and now, some say it doesn't work and we'll tell you about that. also... the caffeine defense, monday morning, a lot of us might have that, right, should a suspect get to blame sports drinks for a crime? all those stories and more, coming up at the top of the hour. martha: massive search for 13 members of what police are calling a cult-like group, finally came to an end. five adults and 8 children were found praying in a park near los angeles and two of the husbands of the women involved reported them missing on saturday and they were concerned and said they believed their families had been brain-washed by a group leader. fears of a possible suicide pact which set in motion the heated

search for the crew, and a former prosecutor joins me this morning on this, dr. keith ablow is a psychiatrist an member of the fox news medical a-team, good to see you both this morning, this is a disturbing story. dr. ablow, these men were be a valleys panicked and found letters that said these women and children were going to join their relatives in heaven, no wonder they were worried. >> no wonder, right, letters, deeds to homes, possessions, left behind. and, so, with good reason, they panicked and they set in motion the proper things, to unfold that would safeguard, hopefully, the well-being of their children and their lives. martha: it was a big relief when the people were found and no one knows whether they stutlcuttled plan they had in the works and decided not to do it but what about the safety of the children. >> that is of paramount concern and what will take place now is a protracted investigation by local law enforcement

authorities and also by child protective services. in california. you will see an extensive set of interviews not only with the parents, but, particularly with the kids themselves, especially, my understanding, is a few of these kids were in the early to late teens. what they have to say about what exactly did or did not go on during the sort of multi-day retreat, we'll call it, because we don't know more about details at this point, is going to be very, very relevant, in determining whether we might see criminal charges in this case. martha: dr. ablow, you know, for these people, this is a religion and other people look at this and they are nervous be a it looks dangerous and looks like a cult. >> and listen, the people who are attracted to cults are people who are suffering with depression or, for whatever reason, wants to give up all control of they're existence, not unlike taking a drug, so you don't have to be present in your own life. then it becomes very dangerous because, the cult leader who,

after all, in this case has been committed to a psychiatric facility, found unable to care for herself. that is who is leading the group. absolutely, the authorities should be interviewing those adults and those children very carefully and the kids shouldn't go home, and be supervised by the women. martha: the best part of this is it has shown a light on the group and hopefully the husbands and rest of the families can corral these people back into the safety and security of their own homes and i want a quick thought from both of you on this one, the kentucky man we talked about who is using caffeine as a defense in -- suspected of strangling his wife, wide smith and he faces murder charges and he says he was basically hyped up on soda and diet pills, tom, any validity to that kind of defense. >> if this is his best defense, he needs to think long and hard about hiring a new defense attorney. i have never heard anything resembling a defense like that

and there has been a lot of litigation, on the criminal and the civil side recently regarding anti-depressants like zoloft and so forth where you can actually put on medical evidence showing that a particular drug affects people's ability to make choice, the mens rea, in, particularly, first degree murder cases but the idea someone is too hopped up on a stimulant to appreciate the nature of their actions, somehow it will provide a defense in a murder case is absurd. martha: i have to go, dr. ablow, caffeine as a defense, can it have that kind of impact on anybody's brain. >> remotely, remotely, remotely possible diet pills and caffeine could precipitate a manic episode, opposite of depression, remotely, remotely possible. martha: thank you, gentlemen, always good to see you both. bill: while you talked, paris hilton was leaving a courtroom in las vegas, pleading guilty to

drug possession charges. in a moment we'll get you an update from vegas and find out what happened inside and what her punishment might be, next.

martha: desperate times call for pratt measures after randy conveyed and his wife, charged with burglary, a bizarre story, folks. cost cops say they basically have been squatting in the guest house of a home they sold three years ago. the owners called the police and noticed someone out back and they allegedly tried to convince the officers it was still their house and he was also charged with resisting arrest. very sad, something is not quite right there. bill: and, paris hilton leaving

a las vegas courtroom moments ago, a new videotape and he recently entered a guilty plea to misdemeanor drug possession an obstructing a police officer and police found cocaine in her purse a month ago and, he said it belonged to someone else and she did not know how the drugs got there and lauren murphy from our affiliate kvvu is in the courtroom and what happened? good morning. >> reporter: good morning, bill, yeah. she was just here, in and out of the regional justice center in las vegas and 20 minutes and ended up pleading guilty to two misdemeanor charges, drug possession and obstructing an officer in exchange for a year of probation, of course that is not all, and, the heiress must complete a drug abuse program, pay $2,000 fine and serve 200 hours of community service. the 29-year-old was arrested august 26th at the wynn resort and a small plastic bag containing cocaine fell out of

her chanel purse and right en front of a police officer, and she said it was not hers, but earlier in the summer she tweeted a picture of the bag and said, love the new chanel percent i bought today and after the guilty plea, if she's arrested for anything besides a minor traffic violation she'll spend a year in jail and her lawyer says despite being on probation hilton is not required to check in or report to anybody and back out here live, hilton is now banned from the wynn and encore resorts and her boyfriend ways partner for one of the nightclubs there and is dismissed as well. and, yeah, back again, she pleaded guilty, and, she will be on probation for a year, $2,000 fine and 200 hours of community service. bill: thank you for that. really appreciate. kvvu on the story, paris hilton emerging from the courtroom, moments ago. lauren, thank you. martha: driving out there in the white blouse, looking proud, actually.

bill: much different from the last time she was in court and we had the helicopters follow her from the house to the courtroom and back again. martha: unless you want to get busted for having drugs en their purse and they usually shrink out of the courthouse with a coat over their head, but not paris hilton, how do the top crime organizations find a few good men and women? they scour the campus and look for the crime fighters and the people who wants to live that life, just ahead. co really save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance? was abe lincoln honest? mary: does this dress make my backside look big? abe: perhaps... save you fifteen percent or more on car insurance?really host: is having a snowball fight with pitching great randy johnson a bad idea? man: yeah, i'm thinking maybe this was a bad idea.

martha: this is a story you probably won't here anywhere else, folks. a tiny pooch with a very long tongue, i look at that. this is puggy, a ten-year-old in texas, he's in the record books for having the longest tong of any dog, which is